Patience is a Virtue

Hey Mighty Warriors, I apologize it has been a while since I wrote my last blog update but I think y'all are really going to enjoy this one. So tonight's blog is about something we all find hard to do and that is being patient. Patience….Patience….Patience we sometimes are going through stuff and sometimes all we hear is "Be patient" and I will admit its a hard thing to learn and do. It is way easier said then done. Let me tell something so I have had a lot of changes with living situations to relationships and even my faith. I spent 3 months at a center and I remember when I got there I was so ready to get things going and start getting into therapy and work on myself so I could get out of there. I remember I had to talk to the therapist on staff first but she wasn't working the first couple days I got there and it was the weekend and I remember it wasn't even Sunday yet and I was already asking the staff "When can we start getting me settled and into group" the staff kept saying to me "I am sorry the therapist won't be in until Monday so your going to have to be patient this weekend. I remember that was the longest week of my life. I was so ready to dive in, get started so I could move on. But then that night I felt God was telling me "Be Still and know that I am God. That was the night I knew this was going to be a long and hard road ahead and one thing I had to get down was how to "Be Still and know that He is God" and BE PATIENT. So the scripture I want to share with you tonight comes from Ephesians 4:2 Hear the Word of the Lord "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Right now I am awaiting to hear for a placement on my living situation and I am struggling with patience but I always say to myself whenever I feel impatient "Be still and know that I am God" It reminds me to trust in Gods timing and not in my own. Sometimes God doesn't give his answer right away to teach us how to be patience but then to also teach us (His beloved children) how to trust in him. So I am going to challenge you whenever you feel impatient look up a bible verse that speaks to you and stick in your pocket and whenever your feeling impatient, anxious or scared read that and soak the words in. I did it until I the verse memorized. Its also a great tool to use for memorizing scripture as well. To end this blog update I will be posting a song that really has spoken to me that last couple of months. Take a listen and enjoy. 
Casting Crowns-Come to the Well
Blessings Mighty Warriors
~MM

Good in Goodbye!

Hey Mighty Warriors, How y'all doing tonight?! I hope you guys have had a great week! So todays blog post is about relationships, friendships and maybe for some of you, you can relate from a marriage or divorce stand point. Today's scripture reading comes from John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.My first question to all of you is  " Do any of you see the "good" in goodbye? From my own personal life I can tell you that I now do see the good. I was reading a devotion out of my Beth Moore devotional book and this is the reading. Hear the Word of God:
I wouldn't for a minute minimize the pain of a relationship broken by unreasonable-or, at the very least, unsustainable-expectations. I've knelt with too many weeping women at the altar of my church sanctuary only to learn that they needed prayer over feelings deeply hurt by someone sitting elsewhere in that room. When such a close and dependable relationship is injuriously severed, the knife penetrates to the exact depth we've invited them into our private lives. Indeed, one of the primary reasons we're so wounded is because the person knew what we we were going through and still abandoned us. What I'm about to say can be painful to hear, but I pray that God will use it toward someone's healing: sometimes a person abandons us not in spite of what we're going through, but directly because of it. They either ran out of answers or they ran out of energy and no longer had the wherewithal to go through it with us. If our helping friends actually did something that overtly wronged us, they bear responsibility before God for that. But if they wronged us only by running out of fuel and dropping out of the struggle, we might need to realize they've done all they felt they could humanly do and let them go without bitterness or anger. 
Our friendships and our spouses are only human, and our expectations for them-especially when we're hurting - can require superhuman insight and strength. No wonder they let us down. Just remember Mighty Warriors that Jesus the one who came and died for you He won't every say goodbye and He will never abandon you. HE LOVES YOU!!!!!! He loves you enough to die for you to save you and most of all to redeem you! Live in that truth Mighty Warriors.

I have had a lot of friends and adults abandon me in my life because of the way I act and just more for the fact they couldn't bear to be my friend anymore. I have spent many nights awake asking myself "Do they care about me? I wonder if they miss me" Truth is in my mind I think they will come back but deep down in my heart I know they ain't coming back. IT all happened within a blink of an eye. I held onto a friendship and it ended in the worst way possible. Yes I still see this friend at church but I am terrified of her. I don't know what to say or how to act around her. It's like she is just there waiting for me to screw up and so she can make fun of me. Mighty Warriors relationships and friendships there hard. My mom always told me find good friends, have good fun and enjoy the moments. My moments with friends were always traumatizing and I don't say that with any exaggeration I mean being bullied took a huge toll on my life and than having adults also walk out of my life in some way has damaged my view on friendships. I will be honest I find it hard to trust people. Because I live in that fear of being abandoned. Two adult women gone from my life in a blink of an eye its hard. But with my time living at the facility I am at has in a way helped me see the good in the goodbyes I had to say. I pray for all you mighty warriors who maybe are in this same boat right now. I pray God brings his calming peace into your life and may your life not be bitter because of what your relationships have broken inside of you. May you see the good in where you are at in your life and maybe one day you will look up to the sky and say "Thank God we aren't friends anymore" or "Thank God I didn't marry that man/women. God has your life planned. He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you Hope and a Future.
That's my weekend blog update I hope y'all enjoy it.
The song I want you to look up is Carrie Underwood "Good in Goodbye"
This song really speaks to me in so many ways. I am so thankful for this womens strong faith and for her wisdom and knowledge.
Blessings to all
~MM

How to Survive in your Pit!

Hey Mighty Warriors, How y'all doing tonight? So I apologize for not posting as I usually do. Some stuff has happened in my life that I had to take some personal time off and spend it with family and most importantly God. The verse I want to share with you today comes from Psalm 40:1-3. Hear the Word of the Lord,
  
I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand. 
 He put a new song in my mouth,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
    and put their trust in him.

So I will share with you parts of what has happened. So right now I am living at a Stabilization Center because my anxiety just got a huge hold of my life and caused some serious problems in my life. I can honestly tell you that choosing to live at this place was the best decision I ever made. It has helped me understand more about my mental illness and my anxiety in a whole new way. Today's blog post I want to focus on living in your pit. You pit could be whatever it is for you. Maybe it is depression, anxiety, fear, divorce, grief and so on. So one of my mom's friend mailed me a devotional by Beth Moore "Looking up"
This devotional is amazing. I encourage everyone to go and check out this book. So that verse I started out with has really been a truly uplifting verse for me especially during the tough days I am here at the Center but the cool thing is during those difficult times I truly feel God's presence within me. He can do that for you and will be there for you if you call on him and lean on him for peace, love and hope. So we all know life sometimes doesn't go the way we want it to. If it did God wouldn't have sent his only son into this world to be brutally beaten, mocked and killed. He did it for one reason because we are His beloved and He loves us wider then any ocean, higher than any skyscraper and deeper than any pit we have ever been in. So the scripture I started out with has to do with many things. It references being patient and waiting on God's timing and not our own. The fact He hears my every cry and wipes away every tear and our rescuer when we are in the deepest part of our pit. He is our solid rock on which we stand, He will never cause us to stumble. A reading out of my devotional says this " If you're in a pit, you don't have to stay in it. Even if you've been there your whole life, you can call it a day. Even if you somehow- at least in your own mind- deserve the pit you live in, you're still not stuck there. Maybe your the noble type trying to make the best of your pit You keep wondering why you can't get satisfied there, why you aren't mature enough to be content where you are. After all, didn't the apostle Paul tell us that we should learn to be content in any circumstance?
Has it occurred to you that maybe a pit is one place where you're not supposed to be content? Maybe you should thank God you're not. Some things weren't meant to be accepted. A pit is one of them. Quit trying to make the best of it. It's time to GET OUT!! Will you think outside the box- Outside YOUR pit and accept the truth that God doesn't want you in there any longer?"
The prayer at the end of this specific devotional reading is this
" I praise You, Lord, for being my Deliver, my rescuer, my redeemer! I know I'm not supposed to be content in my pit. And I believe You can get me out- You want me out- of it. I will look to you to give me strength to lead me to a place of true contentment.
So for example I have learned my triggers that cause my anxiety to arise and cause me to in my term "being in the zone" So for me when I am in the zone I lose track of what is going on around me. I can't hear anything and I can literally feel my heart pounding faster and faster. I found that bible journaling is very helpful. I have a note book and print out pictures and i trace them and then later color the pictures in. This has become so helpful. I encourage you to try it out. If you like pintrest just look up bible journaling there will be some cool ideas to get started and maybe even save them and you can try doing them yourself.
I usually reference a song at the end of my blog but I am unable to post the videos due to content being blocked.
But you can look it up on your computer if you go to www.YouTube.com and search Kari Jobe I am not alone the video should appear and I feel this song speaks truth,hope and love.
Blessings Mighty Warriors
~MM

The Parable of the Vine and Branches

Good afternoon Mighty Warriors, I hope y'all had a great and blessed week! So todays blog is going to be on the parable of the vine and the branches. So I am not going to post the entire verse as it is very long but I am going to post parts of the scripture that we are going to look at today. Hear the Word of the Lord.

“I am the true Vine. My Father is the One Who cares for the Vine. 2 He takes away any branch in Me that does not give fruit. Any branch that gives fruit, He cuts it back so it will give more fruit. 3 You are made clean by the words I have spoken to you. 4 Get your life from Me and I will live in you. No branch can give fruit by itself. It has to get life from the vine. You are able to give fruit only when you have life from Me. 5 I am the Vine and you are the branches. Get your life from Me. Then I will live in you and you will give much fruit. You can do nothing without Me. 
This is the Word of God. So let me ask you this, when you read this passage what comes to mind? This entire gospel on the vine and the branches is all about who you are becoming as this makes it all about the Glory of God. In this story who is the vine? JESUS! WE are the branches! This scripture is about growing and sharing but also becoming ONE with Christ! In the book Ezekial it talks about how he takes out our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. If we abide in Christ he will remain with us. What this means is that we need to look to Christ in Every moment of our lives good or bad. We are completely helpless-He is completely able in ALL things, It says in scripture that Christ prunes us so that we can continue to bear god fruit. 
I want to tell you a story that my friend Jay told me. 
"Before Christ rescued me I had terrible road rage. I would get frustrated in traffic especially in winter driving. My fruit basket of patience, self-control, peace on and on is deficient. So God gifts me with winter weather and challenged driving (pruning) which gives  me the opportunity to grow in him. I become more like him as he prunes me to help me grow my faith in him." So through this blog I pray that you learn that you are the branches and to learn how to bear good fruit. When God has rescued you and you are joined with Jesus one WILL BEAR FRUIT! There is no such thing as a person grafted into Christ where you do not see the fruit of Him who lives in a person. Galations 5:22-26
Amen? 
I want to end with a song called Closer by Hillsong and I think this song really connects with todays blog because it talks about how WE the church find belonging in Christ and how we want to be closer and closer to Him! Enjoy!
Closer-Hillsong
Have a wonderful and blessed week Mighty Warriors!
~MM

Happy New Year! Mighty Mariah's highlights of 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR MIGHTY WARRIORS! Another year in the books and now we look ahead and wait to see what the year 2015 holds for us. I know who holds my future a king who is Mighty to Save! So I want to highlight some of my favorite memories of 2014 and some of the events I got to attend and be a part of. So sit back and enjoy. Let me first say THANK YOU to my followers on facebook and twitter and my readers of my blog. I appreciate the support and the feedback I get from all of you. Some of you have told me I would make a great writer some day. I LOVE hearing that. Keep the feedback coming would LOVE to hear from you!
So let me first start off by saying that Septemeber was an amazing month because that is a special month for so many people who are not only starting their journey in recovery but who have been celebrating the freedom they found in their mighty savior Jesus Christ! It is by the grace of God that we are saved! September was Recovery month and last year I had the great opportunity of being a part of and attending a concert that was put together by the leader of our Celebrate recovery at Lutheran church of Hope Melissa and that concert was called "Lost and Found" Three bands played and one of those three was a rapper and I had the privilage of interviewing him y'all know my buddy Echo! We also had our very own Celebrate Recovery band that was let by the worship leader Jed! Then we had Matt baird who plays for a band called "Spoken' It was a great and memorable night. Here are some photos from that event!

Recovery Month 2014

Mighty Mariah with Echo and CR Coordinator

Mighty Mariah with Matt and his wife Tiffany!

 That was an amazing night and I will always remember that night! Thanks to all the gifted artists that came out and played for us!

My next highlight of 2014 was I also got attend a baptism event held also by Celebrate Recovery. A lot of people from my Celebrate Recovery family. I was so proud of my family that day. It was a great and memorable day for us as a church family.

CR Baptism Event!

Last year I also got to Volunteer and visit Hopetroplis (Home of Super Bible Dude) This was Lutheran church of Hopes Vacation bible theme. WE all had a great time getting crazy for Jesus and having a blown out Jesus party. Like my pastors say "there is no party like a Jesus Party" Here are some photos from that event. Batman, The Hulk and many more awesome characters came to visit us at VBS last year it was so much fun.

Mighty Mariah at HopeTropolis

Mighty Mariah and Waterboy

Mighty Mariah and Batman

Next I had the great opportunity to help support a great cause and a great friend who has Lupus. Lupus is a disease and one of my friends has it and last year we did a walk around the mall to support Lupus and here is one of the photos that we took together.

Lupus awareness walk 2014

One of my favorite highlights was going on a motorcycle ride with my dad but meeting one of my church pastors along the way that was celebrating being cancer free. She kicked Cancers butt! So proud of you Nicole! God was with you every step of the way. You truly inspired me and I pray God continues to bless you and your family in new an awesome ways! Here is a picture of me and Nicole together.

Nicole and Mighty Mariah

As most of you know my church is in the process of getting our very own building and we did a giving campaign and we called it "Building Hope Together" The church is really coming along and hopefully will be done by Easter of 2015. Here are two pictures for ya!

Here is Hope Ankeny's new building

Alright I am going to wrap up this very long blog update. There are so many highlights of 2014 I just can't list them all. 2014 started off kind of rough for my family that around thanksgiving of 2013 that my aunt Jan's Cancer had returned and she was back in the hospital and there she stayed until the news came that the final medicine didn't kill the cancerous cells and my aunt was moved to Hospice. There she stayed until her heavenly Father called her home on January 27, 2014. I miss my aunt very much. The wisdom that lady had and the kind words she had for everyone and the love she had for her family was incredible. She will be missed very much! I have learned that in this life there will come a day where we are called to our eternal home and there we will rejoice and celebrate because we are free from sin in this world and we will be with Jesus forever! I have a peace knowing I will see my aunt Jan again. 

2014 was a great year and I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store. I hope y'all enjoy this blog update! Blessings to each and everyone of you!

Happy New Year!!

~MM